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Mass Effect: Andromeda has officially slipped from its nebulous 2016 release to “early 2017.” While this news surprises no one considering we’re already well into 2016 and have not heard anything about the game other than its name, the news is still disappointing for those out there itching to get

In recent years, Microsoft has had less-than-stellar performances at E3. In 2013, Microsoft announced the jaw dropping price for the then-upcoming Xbox One with an unnaturally strange focus on TV. In 2014, Microsoft shifted their attention to games on Xbox – this was better, of course – but the announced

The hype train has officially left the station. The yearly media circus that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) officially launched yesterday, where all the biggest names in video games vie for your attention and your pre-orders. There’s a lot of noise coming from Los Angeles, but here’s a quick

You finished the fight. Now hunt the truth. We caught up with our dear old friend, the Master Chief, in 2012’s Halo 4, which kicked off the Spartan’s next, grand adventure to save humanity. In 2014, Halo fans received The Master Chief Collection, an HD compilation of Halos 1-4, as

After months of speculation, Harmonix has finally pulled back the curtain on its latest game. Dust off your plastic guitars: there’s another Rock Band on the way later this year for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Rock Band, in my humble opinion, the best party game around, so I suspect

The Batman: Arkham Knight front has been quiet in the past few weeks, but recently, things have started to pick up. Following the announcement that the game will be the first in the series to carry an “M for Mature” rating, Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have given us a brand new

Few games out there can capture both a great sense of humor and great gameplay, but TT Games manages to do that with every iteration of their LEGO gaming franchise. From the LEGO Star Wars games to LEGO Batman to LEGO Harry Potter to LEGO City Undercover to LEGO Marvel

Remember how fun game nights are? You and a few friends get together to play cards or a board game or some other group game (Taboo has always been a favorite of mine.) Nomino is a new social game that leverages your social network and the ubiquitous practice of posting photos online to recreate that “party game” feeling in an easy and fun way.

Nomino is a simple question-and-answer game, where a captioned image is your single clue to the answer. Players get to add their own Nominos to the database too in an effort to challenge (and possibly stump!) their friends and other players. That’s where the party game comes in: who doesn’t like to challenge their friends with trivia? You post a Nomino, share it on Facebook/Twitter/other social media, and your friends from everywhere and anywhere try to rise to the challenge. This is the first game I’ve played in recent memory that positively leverages social sharing as part of the experience (in contrast, too many games on iOS and Android require obtrusive, bothersome sharing in order to earn currency or something – whereas the point of Nomino is to share the challenge.)

Players earn coins for answering and creating Nominos. Those coins can be redeemed for free stuff from corporate partners, adding further value to play. As of this writing, there’s only one prize (a $10 Starbucks gift card), but I’m told that they’re working on other partnerships for more prizes. Currently, the coin redemption rate is pretty damn inflated (that $10 gift card is a whopping 240,000 points), so I’m almost worried at seeing the exchange rates for gear and prizes that are more than $10 in value. Regardless, these are prizes that can be earned simply by playing a free game – even if it’ll take quite a while to earn something really good, you can’t argue with free.

Now that the new generation of consoles have finally been released, this year’s E3 was devoted entirely to games. Quite a few were worth keeping an eye on, but the game that piqued my interest the most was Sunset Overdrive — by a large margin. Compared to most of the

The Halo series continues to be one of the most popular video game franchises in history, spawning not only nine games, but also novels, comics, and even a live-action miniseries. After taking over the production of Halo games from Bungie in 2011, 343 Industries has strived to continue the Halo legacy and create new and exciting content for its rabid

Did you ever watch Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, Iron Man, or The Tick? How about Totally Spies, The Powerpuff Girls, or Codename: Kids Next Door? Or even spend a few hours playing the Metal Gear Solid, Metroid: Prime, or Mass Effect series? If you said yes to any

Sometimes you just have to figure things out yourself. In a gaming landscape dominated by mandatory tutorials, pop-up hints, and glowing markers, Transistor takes us back to a yesteryear-like feel from the very beginning, where it is up to us to figure out how we want to play in a vague structure of a story.

That became most obvious to me in the screen after the game’s title card, when the game expected me to press a button to start, whereas I was expecting a menu, a cutscene, or even a “press A to begin” to show up. I waited a good 15 seconds or so before I realized I had to press something, but it was the first time in recent history when I had to mentally check-in just to start the game. That was a good indicator of the world Supergiant Games had in store for me in their follow-up to Bastion.

Nothing is quite what we expect it to be in Transistor‘s world of Cloudbank. Right from the start, we’re introduced to our herione Red, a singer rendered voiceless after an attempt on her life, guided by her deceased protector, whose essence is now trapped in the Transistor, a sword-that-isn’t-a-sword. On face value, that sentence almost seems like an inherent paradox. But in Transistor, that story just works. It’s not about the minutiae; it’s just about a compelling starting point. The Camerata attempted to kill Red, and now she’s going to return the favor. Along the way, Red discovers the Camerata’s motivations and an even bigger threat seeking to swallow up Cloudbank, whose culture and presence is revealed through computer terminals, menu text, and Logan Cunningham’s omnipresent commentary as the Transistor, as opposed to direct exposition. That’s what gives weight and color to the otherwise simple plot and ultimately what makes us care.